Tag Archives: stitch

Hello peeps, I’m ba-ack! Well, what a break it’s been – I’ve felt pretty bad not being able to keep up with the crafty blog but I’ve still kept busy. During my writing lull I’ve turned 30; been spoilt rotten with spa treats, cakey eats and posh champagne; had a holiday and been to a festival in Barcelona; FINALLY resolved my lifetime ambition to see Gaudi’s La Sagrada Familia; found new band crushes, made new friends and still managed to fit in a few craft projects.

So now I’m slowly resurfacing from all that hedonism, it’s about time I got back to posting on my makes.

Today I’d like to tell you about the father’s day card I’ve made my dear old Pops. It’s my first try at cross-stitch since my early teens. While it’s far from impressive it has rekindled my fondness for the little x’s and I’ve piled up a ton of cross stitch projects to work on in the future. I’m loving Wee Little Stitches, which is where I got the pattern for this make, and I’ve also bought their cross stitch pattern for Star Wars characters (both on Etsy). If you haven’t seen them, check them out – they do the greatest patterns!

This one was stitched on 16 count aida (as I bought the wrong kind) and it’s ended up pretty massive. Next up, I’ll try stitching a wedding card on 14 count.

After stitching, I fixed the aida to piece of card folded in half. I stuck it on using spray-on glue, folding and gluing the edges on the reverse side. As this was inside the card, I then neatened it up by cutting a piece of matching wrapping paper of the same size and stuck it over to cover it.

My dad’s a huge Bob Dylan fan and collector, which is why I went for this. Though it is slightly strange for a Father’s day card, hopefully he’ll still appreciate the effort.

Just to share, here’s a few pics from my time off. The street art was down an alley in Barcelona and the yummy cakes by Fiendish & Goode were a birthday gift from a friend (okay, one is missing but you can see why I couldn’t wait!)

Is there nothing craft can’t fix? Exhibit ‘A’ is this dull grey cardy with not much going for it. Mix a bit of craft magic and you’ve got a one off piece that’s suddenly got some balls.

This is another example of the Sublime Stitching patterns (which I reviewed here) put to good use. A great bonus is that it can be done in just one evening.

I gave the stretchy fabric extra strength by ironing Wonderweb onto the back of the area I wanted to stitch, this made sewing neat stitches much easier.

Once you’re done sewing you can also iron another layer over the first patch to seal any loose ends (Just make sure the patch of wonder web is larger than the first so that your iron doesn’t melt the glue as this can leave sticky, dirty marks on both the iron and the fabric.)

I think this looks great with colour-pop accessories that pick out the colours of the embroidery. My favourite way to wear it is with a yellow belt, yellow heels, a red ring, navy pencil skirt and a stripy top.